Presents
by seductionleadstodestruction
Summary: Finn lets Rachel know that it's okay to move on. A Puckleberry drabble.


Disclaimer: I don't own.

This is a drabble based off of a prompt I received in my Tumblr ask box.

**Presents**

"I really shouldn't even be involved in this gift exchange, Mr. Schue," Rachel tells the Spanish teacher, even as she sits in her designated chair in the circle of Glee kids. "And neither should Noah, for that matter. We don't celebrate Christmas.

"Are you seriously saying no to presents?" Puck asks her, his eyebrows raising. Rachel huffs and opens her mouth to speak but Puck stops her. "Never mind. Just pretend like it's a Hanukkah gift."

Rachel rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything more, to which all the Glee kids silently cheer. Mr. Schue goes to the small Christmas tree and goes gift by gift, passing them out to their receivers.

After everyone's gotten their present, Schue tells them to start opening. Rachel peels back the wrapping paper covering the small rectangle box in her lap slowly. Inside the box she finds a necklace with a golden star pendant. She can't help the smile that breaks out on her face before she realizes there is a letter under the necklace.

She tears open the envelope (carefully, of course), and pulls out the paper.

_Rachel,_

_I love you. I've loved you since you acted super weird the first time we sang together and I loved you when we were together and I'll love you when you're a famous Broadway singer. But I'm not in love with you anymore. And I know you're not in love with me either. I know that we're not supposed to be together and that's okay. We'll always be okay, and we'll always be friends, but I know you're holding yourself back because of me. When we broke up and I got back with Quinn, you were really sad, and I think you just don't want me to feel the same way when you date someone new. I won't, Rachel. It's okay for you to move on, I promise. I know how you feel about him 'cause you've always felt that way about him. You just look at him like he's the best thing you've ever seen since that Broadway version of Wizard of Oz or whatever that you made me see. And I know you're keeping yourself from him because you don't want to hurt me. Well, the only thing that hurts me is knowing you're not happy. He will make you happy. Go for it, Rachel. I'll be okay._

_Love,__  
><em>_ Finn_

Rachel's eyes were swimming by the time she'd reached the end of the letter. When she glanced up, everyone was laughing and talking and _happy_. She caught Finn's eye and he gave her a smile, a hopeful smile, that brought her to tears. She stood up and rushed toward him, engulfing him in a hug.

"Thank you," she whispered into his neck. "I really needed to hear that."

Finn pulled back and looked at her. "I know, that's why I wrote it."

Rachel laughed at his obvious statement. Finn was looking at something over her shoulder, though, and she turned to follow his gaze.

Noah was walking out of the room. She looked back to Finn, eyes wide, and he smiled softly at her. "Go."

She rushed away from her ex-boyfriend, from her past, and pushed open the door to meet her future.

She spotted Noah right away, sitting against the lockers a little ways down the hall. She walked slowly to him. He had his head in his hands and his knees bent, feet flat against the ground. She sat next to him, shoulder against his.

"Hey," she whispered to him. This was it, she knew it was, the moment they had been leading up to since their first kiss. The dance they'd been doing around each other for three years was finally coming to an end.

Noah didn't look up when he spoke. "I guess you and Finn are back together."

It wasn't a question. His voice was resigned. Rachel had expected anger, not the sad acceptance she was seeing. She didn't like it.

"No, we're not," she told him softly. He finally picked his head up and met her eyes. "Finn and I are never going to get back together. We're not in love with each other."

"Then what was that?" He didn't have to explain what he meant, and his question was followed by a sigh. Rachel's heart clenched and she grabbed his hand.

"Finn wrote me a letter and-"

"Of course," Noah muttered, shaking his head.

"Let me finish, okay?" Noah, eyes closed, nodded. "Finn wrote me a letter that said something I've been needing to hear since… God, since the very beginning. Finn and I were never a good match. We only hurt each other and it wasn't healthy. I've been afraid of hurting him again, because that's all we've ever done to each other, but he told me that he was okay. Finn gave me the closure I've been needing since junior prom and now I can do what I've wanted to do for _so long_ without the fear of hurting one of my very best friends."

Noah didn't say anything, just stared at Rachel. His expression was unreadable and Rachel realized she would have to spell it out for him.

"Noah, I love Finn," she paused when he turned his head away from her and pulled his hand from her grip. She fought back tears as she reached for his cheek to pull his focus back to her. She almost broke when she saw wetness mirrored in his eyes. "I love Finn," she repeated, "but I'm _in_ love with you."

Her tears began falling a moment after his. He didn't hide his face, simply leaned into her touch. She pulled his face close to hers and placed a sweet kiss on his lips. "He always gets what I want. Thought he was gonna get you, too."

Rachel shook her head quickly, trying to get as close to Noah as possible. "You have me, okay?" She kissed him again. "You have me."


End file.
